Polymer Clay Canes for Beginners 27 videos, step by step, beginner cane workshop
What people are saying about this tutorial.
jennifer rose
Just finished this first workshop on how to make canes, and I must say I learned so much. This is exactly what I have been looking for, someone who could explain cane making in a step by step that process that I could replicate. I watched the videos, went into my studio and began to create all of the canes Alice showed. I finally have results I can be proud of, and I say thank you so much for doing this workshop. My only question now is when do we get more workshops. If you are only going to take one online class let it be this workshop. Thank you Alice for your hard work, and your dedication to helping others learn the joys of polymer clay.
Online Workshops with Alice Stroppel
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I’m so happy to tell you that I have uploaded two new workshops to my online school. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you’ll see Cane Mapping and Extrusions.
The extrusion workshop consists of thirteen videos that equal over an hour of instruction.
This workshop will show you how to make small unique canes from extruded polymer clay. You can use these canes to make everything from buttons beads and pendants to cane mapped pieces.
It’s only about the techinque used in making the canes, not the finished pieces.
It’s all part of building your cane inventory so that when you are ready to begin a project you have many canes to choose from.
I use lots of extruded cane in my cane mapping pieces.
The butterfly on the left is made with both extruded canes and traditional canes. The one on the right is all extrusions.
 If you love mosaics, color and polymer clay, if you love the look of complex canes but simply don’t want to create a giant complex cane, if you love one of a kind pieces, and if you have tons of left over canes, this is the can mapping workshop for you!
This is the workshop I teach at my Sebring Studio and around the country at polymer clay guilds and retreats. The difference is you can rewind and watch each step over and over if you want.
In almost 2 hours of videos you’ll learn the basics by cane mapping this fish portrait and the butterfly on the left above. I’ll show you a few unexpected canes and different slices that you can incorporate into your designs.
This is an intermediate class and having some Skinner blended canes in your stash will make your designs pop.
Thanks so much for taking a look .
 Sherry Moon My fabulous trade from Sherry Moon.
I’ve had a very exciting week. I took a class with Kate Church and created a very funny and cool doll. I received two trades in the mail from two extremely accomplished artists and I finished 20 something charms for an exchange. Whew.
I’ll tell you all about each of them in separate posts, the first one being this over the top cool mosaic magic carpet I received from Sherry Moon.
When I first saw her large carpet I just fell in love, here’s a picture, tell me you don’t feel the same.
 Sherry Moon
It’s just so luscious and looks so much like a real carpet. I was thrilled when Sherry said she wanted to trade for one of my cane mapped butterflies and she agreed to do a mini version of her carpet. Here’s the butterfly that now lives with Sherry. Thank you so much Sherry, your work is sterling and I’m honored to own this bit of magic.
The next class in my studio will this month, July 30, 2011. We’ll be using up your old canes and creating some very cool fish.
I’m using fish as the subject, but you could cane map almost anything. I’ll be showing you a couple of other cane mapped items in the next few days. The photo above shows one crazy fantasy fish that I applied to this cute little tea pot. Fun! Here’s a close up. It’s only about 3″ square.
The Class is $55.00 and that will include lunch and Foam core for mounting your finished fish and cording or pin back to finish your small fish. Plus…I’ll add a bit of metal foil to add the pop need to create a fantasy fish.
Click here for all the information. Hope to see you here,
Alice
This is kind of my finished fish piece. Kind of…..I’m still playing with it and not sure I like everything about it and might do something different with the flower stems. The metal leaf was left over from the fish and I thought I try it as stems. It wasn’t what I had in mind and I’m not sure I won’t try my original idea after all.
I haven’t glued the pieces down yet, I had a black background in mind, but now I’m not so sure. I don’t want to try to do the background in polymer, so if I want a different background I have to think of something else. I’m not much of a painter, but I’m thinking of painting a lighter background on board. Plus I’m still arranging and rearranging each piece and wondering if I need more fish.
I might have to let this percolate for awhile, but hopefully not too long. I like to finish projects and get them either out the door on the way to a new home, or among my many polymer clay keepers.
Anyway, it was fun and if nothing else I’ve added metal foils to my cane mapping techniques and I’m ready to see what else I can do with it besides fish………love fish but……. well you understand I’m sure.
These fish with their own bling are a part of a WIP, but I wanted to share them with you today because I am excited about how they look.
It’s one of those slap myself on the forehead moments…ever since I attended a class with Kathleen Dustin, I’ve had every color of Gilding Material, gold leaf, variegated blue leaf, red variegated and silver too. This class was years ago maybe 2005, can’t remember. Anyway I made a few thing using the techniques I learned in her class and then move to other things.
This metal leaf has just been patiently waiting for me to remember it. Today, 6? years later I incorporated it in these cane mapped mosaic fish. You can learn the basic mosaic technique by signing up for my newsletter in the upper right hand side of this page.
I’ve been framing some of the other fish that I’ve done for my classes and I wanted to create a large piece that contains several fish and other subjects. So I’m not finished yet, this has exploded me into a whole different group of ideas. Like I need anymore to add to the ones I haven’t gotten to yet. But maybe I’ll add some of these to the front of the list.
It’s so great to be able to share what I’m doing each day. I know there is someone out there checking in once in awhile, thanks……….
I’m thrilled to tell you I’ll be guest artist in June at Barbara McGuire and Ellen Prophater’s new fabulous Woman Creative Art and Jewelry Design Center just outside Atlanta in Buford, GA.
The fun will begin on Friday night June 3, where I’ll be the guest of honor at an Artist Reception to kick off the week-end. It’s going to be a great time and I hope you can be there.
On Saturday and Sunday I’ll be delving further into two favorite techniques that I’ve developed using polymer clay. The first class on Saturday from, 11:00 to 5:00, will be Pen and Ink Polymer, using Polymer clay as your canvas you can soar as high as your imagination can take you.
 Pen and Ink You don’t have to “know how to draw” to have fun with this technique and create colorful results you’ll be proud to wear. Read more about it here.
The second class on Sunday, June 5th, from 12:00 to 4:00, will be Cane Mapped Mosaics. I’ve given away a 20 min. video cane mapped mosaics for free since the beginning of my blog. This class will bring us all together too explore the many possibilities with this technique and to take a closer look at color choices.
 Cane Mapped Mosaics Read more about this class here. I hope you can join Me and Barbara, Ellen, Sue and the rest of the ladies at Woman Creative the first weekend in June. To sign up for one or both of these classes visit Woman Creative Art and Jewelry Design Center.
I was checking my clipart disks for butterflies to do using my mosaic technique and ran into the moth section and I realized that moths are pretty spectacular. The guy above is a moth, fantasy colors of course. I still have a butterfly on my table and there are some fabulous butterflies as well. I’m going to make a necklace out of this one.
You can learn this technique by signing up for my newsletter (in the upper right hand side of this page) and watching the free 20 minute video tutorial.
Stay tuned, because I’m going to be teaching a full day of this technique very soon. It’s lots of fun and the applications are limitless.
I ‘ve been doing lots of new pieces involving the mosaic technique that I share with you when you sign up for my newsletter. I’ve made this fish and placed it on the underside of a 6×6 plate. It will make a perfect desert plate or a catch all for a dresser.
I have other things I’m working on that I want to share with you soon. Just wanted you to know I’m busy working at my clay table.
Patricia from artistsloftppaquin1 featured one of my mosaic fish in a treasury call, “Sun, Sand and Sea….More Tropical Dreaming”.
I made this fish with the same technique that I used to make the larger fish to your right here on my home page, only this one is small. You can make your own fish mosaic by watching a 20 minute video when you sign up for my newsletter.
Patricia makes the coolest pieces in ceramics. I own a couple of her faces and she owns my eyes and lips necklace. You should take some time to visit her shop, you”ll love it.
Thanks Patricia.
 Worked on the tutorial video all day yesterday. Had to stop and buy food today , how rude. When I got home and everything was put away, instead of editing the video, I relaxed with this ongoing project. Posting it now and running away to bed so I can get an early start tomorrow.
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If you love mosaics, color and polymer clay, if you love the look of complex canes but simply don’t want to create a giant complex cane, if you love one of a kind pieces, and if you have tons of left over canes, this is the can mapping workshop for you!
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